


Paint the Dawn...

by clenastia



Series: Revolutions are Born of a Thousand Small Fires [1]
Category: Fairy Tail, Katekyou Hitman Reborn!
Genre: Children Engaging In Criminal Behavior, Gen, I don't know, I have no idea what I'm doing, I've Never Seen Katekyo, Magic Council, Maybe Dark?, Vongola is a Yami Guild, for real this time, send help, we'll find out, what even are these tags
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-13
Updated: 2020-07-26
Packaged: 2021-03-04 00:41:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,917
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24694684
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/clenastia/pseuds/clenastia
Summary: ...with the blood of your victims.Tsuna is 8 when his father introduces him to the guild master of Vongola, one of the most infamous yami guilds in the Ishgar peninsula. He's scared, but there's no turning back. With nothing left, he sets out to build a better future.And makes some friends along the way.Unbeta'd. Rating may change. WARNING: Author has never seen/read Katekyo.
Series: Revolutions are Born of a Thousand Small Fires [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1787686
Comments: 2
Kudos: 16





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> So, there I was, innocently reading The Restaurant with Sushi That’s Out of This World by Luki Dimension (on ff.net), and on an idle whim I decided to read some reviews people have left. I don’t know why, I just got an urge, so I did. And among the reviews, one reviewer was commenting about how rare it was to find *good* Reborn! crossover fics, and said:  
> “The fact that I haven’t found a single fic in the Fairy Tail/Reborn! crossovers using the Tsuna’s Vongola family as a guild surprises me. So much potential wasted.”  
> Among other things, but really that’s what got me.  
> And now.  
> …  
> Well. Surprise?  
> ALSO WHY AM I DOING THIS I HAVE LITERALLY SEEN ALL OF TWO EPISODES OF REBORN! EVERYTHING I KNOW ABOUT THE SERIES I KNOW FROM FANFIC THAT IS NOT A GOOD FOUNDATION TO BE WRITING FROM.  
> Warnings for: Possibly (most likely) OOC Reborn! characters, lots of OCs (for various yami guilds we don’t see in the FT show), and, uh… me making up politics despite knowing less than nothing about politics. Also suckiness. Probably (most likely).  
> …enjoy? Maybe? I HAVE NO IDEA WHAT I’M DOING.

There are three corpses sprawled across the street when Tsuna steps out of his guild hall, arms full of paperwork. Reborn’s trademark golden flame flickers over them, and it’s only through sheer force of will that Tsuna keeps from crying.

“We’re not a yami guild anymore,” he all but whines, “this shouldn’t keep happening!”

“Mikuni, of Black Lock, and two goons not worth knowing. Their guild master didn’t appreciate Vongola terminating our agreements and sent them as assassins. You should thank me for taking care of it.”

Tsuna bites his tongue on a yelp as Reborn’s voice comes from _right behind him_ , and a cold shiver of dread races down his spine as the assassin ‘tsks’ him.

Reborn wasn’t in the guild hall when he left, and he’s standing _right in front of the doors_. It shouldn’t be possible for him to be there.

Reborn’s never been one to care about what is _possible_.

Tsuna finds his voice after half an eternity, time slowed by the weight of Reborn’s gaze on his back. “We don’t have to _kill_ them…”

The assassin scoffs, one hand entering the corner of Tsuna’s vision to wave him off. “Go fetch me coffee, dame-Tsuna.”

“Wha- but the paperwork’s due in-!”

“Then I guess you’ll just have to run, won’t you? You shouldn’t have taken so long to do it in the first place.” he punctuates his statement with a shove, sending Tsuna stumbling down the steps.

Tsuna’s pretty sure you’re not supposed to order your guild master to fetch you drinks ( _especially_ not if you’re a picky bastard who only takes coffee from a single shop on the _other end of the city!_ ), but he’s not about to tell _Reborn_ that-

Tsuna hops desperately to the side as a burst of spellfire strikes where his feet were, and this time he _does_ yelp, clutching his paperwork to his chest as he hurries off.

He’s not sure if Reborn thought he was moving too slow or if Reborn _heard_ him thinking, but he’s pretty sure that’s half the fun for the assassin. Tsuna’s not going to call him out either way though.

If he’s _lucky_ , Reborn will clean up the corpses before he gets back.

Before the Council notices, hopefully.

_He wouldn’t actually make me deal with that! Right?_

_R-right?!_

By the time Tsuna returns, sticky with sweat and desperate for a shower after running across the entire city, the bodies are mercifully gone.

And yet, a terrifying aura leaks from the guild hall.

Tsuna clutches Reborn’s coffee in both hands like a lifeline as he inches his way through the door.

Reborn’s smirking, fire dancing over his fingers as he taunts Hibari over rumors he’s picked up, and Tsuna curls into himself as he moves closer.

He wishes he could ask them not to blow up the guild hall, but he knows the moment he does Reborn will do it just to spite him, and then Hibari would try to punish him for disturbing the peace, and they’d fight, and blow up the entire _town_ , so Tsuna bites off the urge, sets the coffee at Reborn’s elbow, and bolts into the back office.

He desperately looks around for something to do, because if he’s working Reborn (maybe) not involve him in whatever games he’s playing with Hibari, and he catches sight of a stack of paperwork that wasn’t there before.

Tsuna lunges for it, grinning as he catches sight of Hayato’s cheery note on top, proclaiming the stack of papers potential missions that he’d already sorted out the unacceptable ones from, and Tsuna just needs to rank them.

Tsuna all but collapses in his chair, pulling the paperwork with him, and thanks every god he can name for the day he met Hayato.

If he’s sorting missions he’ll _definitely_ be safe from Reborn.

...right?

* * *

This is not how the story starts.

It starts, instead, with a young boy. Barely eight years old, an only child.

It starts with a demon, and a mother’s love, and a father who never visits except the one time he visits too late - returning after months away to find his son cradled in his mother’s arms, trapped there when they became stiff and cold in the way of the dead.

It starts with a yami guild called Vongola, and it ends here - 

With the _desperatebrokenterrified_ children who take this guild of darkness and shadows, and drag it kicking and screaming into the light.

Tsunayoshi Sawada is eight years old when his father collects him from the ruins of his childhood home, from his mother’s arms and everything he ever knew, to bring him before Vongola’s guild master.

He’s the first child to be brought to the guild. To _work_ for the guild.

He isn’t the last.

Tsuna is a spark - a small thing, all but smothered, utterly harmless. 

A spark of fire that seems so easy to put out.

But instead, he grows. From a spark to a flame, setting the underworld alight.

He isn’t the only one.

He’s just the first.

And that _matters_.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That moment when even Wikipedia has no idea how old Vongola is – at one point, it says it’s existed for 400 years before the start of the story. At another, it says that Giotto founded it in the 19th century, which is the 1800s, which is AT MOST 300 years before the start of the series, if we assumed the series started in 2000.   
> Also, with everything I know about Reborn! being from fanfiction, I gotta say. Squalo is a HELL of a lot prettier than I thought he was.  
> Like.   
> Damn.  
> He’s hot.  
> Anyway, the first couple chapters are gonna bounce around a little – it’s not until Mukuro that the actual plot starts happening so until then it’ll be short chapters and lots of small timeskips – this ain’t gonna be Girl’s Mind where we get 40+ chapters and only cover 2 months, it’ll move faster than that at least until we hit Mukuro.   
> Also, please be aware I edited the first chapter and added about 400 extra words to it – nothing changed plot-wise, I just cleaned it up and gave it a little more character.  
> Thanks for reading! Hope you like!

“This isn’t a daycare, Iemitsu.” the man behind the big desk says, staring down at him, and it’s _scary_ and Tsuna wants his _kaa-san_ and he doesn’t know why this strange guy took him away and he keeps saying he’s Tsu-kun’s father but mama said Tsu-kun’s father became a _star_ so that means he’s dead so this man is _lying_ and Tsu-kun _wants to go home_ -!

The man who’s not his father chuckles. “I know, I know, but it’s alright. He can help!”

The scary man behind the desk glares at the man who isn’t Tsu-kun’s father.

“He’s a child, Iemitsu. And we don’t peddle in any of the fields where his age might be useful.”

The man who took Tsu-kun away straightens. “I _know_. But he has our ancestors’ Intuition. Even if he hasn’t shown signs of any other powers, that alone can make him useful - he can earn his keep, Nana’s dead and I don’t have anyone else I can leave him with, you _know_ this.”

The scary man’s eyes turn to Tsu-kun, and he tries to hide. He doesn’t want the scary man to see him.

“He’ll have to be tested - I can’t take this on your word alone.”

“Of course.”

The scary man sighs, and it’s like all his scariness bleeds away as he smiles at Tsu-kun.

But Tsu-kun knows it’s fake, and somehow that’s even _scarier_. He closes his eyes and buries his face in not-Father’s leg.

He wants to go home.

* * *

Tsuna doesn’t like Vongola. They say his kaa-san is dead and she’s never coming back and that little spark inside him says that’s _true_ , just like it says that weird blond man who keeps calling himself Tsuna’s papa is true.

Tsuna hates it all, and he wants to run away, where people don’t tell him kaa-san is gone and where someone strange doesn’t keep saying he’s Tsuna’s papa and where he doesn’t have to see so many scary things all the time!

But every time he thinks about it, it’s like they can _tell_ , because that scary old man shows up and talks about how good Tsuna is at helping them, and how bad it would be if Tsuna left, because then lots of people would die just like his kaa-san, and that little spark in Tsuna says that’s a _threat_.

So Tsuna doesn’t run away, and he tries his best to call that weird guy his papa, and he tries _so hard_ to do everything those people tell him to because he’s in _danger_ and he isn’t quite sure why but if he does what they say then he should be safe, the spark says so, so-!

One day the scary old man finds him while he’s practicing his letters, someone new beside him.

“Hello, Tsu-kun,” the scary man starts, smiling.

It’s still fake.

“This is Turmeric. He’ll be taking you on a job today, so do your best, alright?”

Somehow Tsuna knows it’s another test, but it doesn’t feel _bad_ the way all the others did. It’s confusing, so he nods distractedly as he tries to figure it out-

“What are you doing? We’re leaving now.”

“O-oh! Okay!” Tsuna stutters as he stumbles to his feet, letter practice abandoned as he hurries behind the new man.

This test doesn’t feel bad, so… maybe it’s good?

Tsuna doesn’t want to miss it if that’s the case.

* * *

Something’s wrong. Tsuna’s _broken_ , he’s gotta be, because this is way too scary and it’s totally bad and he doesn’t want to but the spark still says it’s not but it’s _scary_ -!

“Well? Get going. You have two hours.”

Mr. Turmeric has a job somewhere else, and Tsuna has to be back before he’s done, with the Fylean grimoire, or he _fails_ and Tsuna doesn’t know what happens if he fails but he doesn’t think it’s good but he has to steal something _all by himself_ and if he gets caught he fails too and Tsuna can’t _do_ this, he _can’t_ -!

Mr. Turmeric walks past him, banging into Tsuna a little to make him move, so he stumbles forward and heads toward the place Mr. Turmeric said to go.

It’s a house, a big fancy one because he’s stealing from a “private collector” Mr. Turmeric said, and Tsuna has to find the magic grimoire, and get through any protections it has, and get _out_ , all without being caught or taking too long, and it’s _raining_ too so if the book gets too wet it might get damaged and he’d _still_ fail-!

Tsuna stops by one of those big fancy bushes rich people like to pay others to take care of, and tries to think.

If the test doesn’t _feel_ bad, then maybe the owners aren’t home…? 

But when Tsuna peeks around the bush there are lights on, and he thinks he sees a shadow move, so he darts back behind the bush.

He closes his eyes, leaning against it, and tries to understand.

_ Maybe… they’d give me the book if I asked? _

Something like a lot of panic bubbles up his chest, and Tsuna shakes his head rapidly, hugging himself.

_ Look, _ something in him seems to say, so Tsuna crouches down and sneaks around the bush again, looking in toward the house.

Somehow, his eyes drift to the side, a fancy servant’s door, with a porch to hide their yard tools.

_ Underneath _ , he thinks, and starts crawling forward before he can even think it through.

Lots of tools are just under the edge of the porch, and Tsuna has to shuffle them around so he can fit in, crawling deeper and deeper until he can’t see anymore-

Something cold and sharp touches Tsuna’s throat at the same moment the door above them opens, light spearing through the cracks in the porch to let him see again.

There’s a boy, holding the knife with a steady hand, even as his eyes start to widen in fear.

His hair’s silver like an old man’s, but somehow Tsuna knows they’re the same age.

Neither of them have a chance to say anything before boots start to stomp down the porch stairs, and Tsuna curls up as small as he can while the other boy pulls away his knife.

It feels like a million years before the servant goes back inside, taking all the light with them.

_ Well now what? _

The little spark inside him just purrs happily.

Tsuna is so confused.


End file.
